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Note from HNG: Hey Nerds and Nerdettes, your favorite virtual drinking buddy is back! You may remember Vivian’s fantastic Firefly Drinking Game post (or not, depending on how drunk you got while playing it) and this time she’s created a Hunger Games Drinking Game that will make you Rue the day you didn’t drink while reading it (what? too soon?) So without further ado, heeeeeeere’s Vivian!

Hey there! Guest Nerd Girl Vivian again. Since you were all so incredibly supportive of my last admission of addiction, I thought I’d share another one with you. And that is… books. Books are great. Books are underappreciated. And books are sexy. There’s a vicious cycle that I’ve been caught in for many, many years. It goes something like this:

Step 1: Fall in love with a book.

Step 2: Find out a movie is being made based on said book, and get very excited.

Step 3: Be disappointed with the movie.

In case of sequels, repeat.

And so it was with The Hunger Games. I was a little late to this party, and I didn’t start the first book until just a few months ago. But I made up for my tardiness with unabashed, obnoxiously vocal adoration. I was that person who worked “that’s like when Katniss…” into every conversation. If woman and young adult literature could wed, I would ask these books to be mine forever. And we would honeymoon in District 7.

I was so devoted to the books that I resisted watching the movie trailers or clips, or looking at the casting choices, until I’d finished the series. (I had the same strategy for the Harry Potter movies, which only lasted through about four of them before I caved.) I just didn’t want anyone else’s images in my head, and I also didn’t want to be disappointed. But then, immediately after finishing the third book, I did watch the trailer, and… daaaaammmn. It was so beautiful. And thrilling. I don’t think I exhaled through the whole thing. And my expectations for the movie shot sky high. To be fair, I was not actually disappointed by the film. I loved it. I had issues with it, but when a movie focuses on a girl whose major personality trait is her inability to outwardly express her thoughts and feelings, a lot of the book’s magic will inevitably be lost, and I accept that. Overall, the movie served as a sort of Cliffs Notes companion to a book I can’t get enough of. So I enjoyed every minute of it. (Well, almost every minute. I found Cinna’s scenes maddeningly boring and those damn CGI mutts were doomed to suck. Also, “enjoyed” is a really strange word to use when describing a movie about kid killing.)

So this one-trick capitol-engineered pony is back, with a new literary drinking game for all of you who love these books like I do, and for those who just want an excuse to drink alone. Cause why should drinking games be reserved for movies? Answer: they shouldn’t. I suppose that this could feasibly be played with the film, but as a friend of mine so harshly put it “the alcohol intake would be just as watered down as the emotional impact of the movie.” Zing. So, really, enjoy a book. And a beer. Let your young adult fiction flag fly. (Note: This game is specifically based on the first book. I don’t think it would carry over to the other two very well. Or prove me wrong.)

Let the First Annual Thirsty Games begin! And may the odds be ever in your favor!

Drink when:

Katniss fires an arrow. This seemed like the logical place to start. Drink twice if she misses her target.

Drink.

Anyone uses the words “Girl on Fire.”

Anyone climbs a tree.

There's a lot of time spent hanging out in trees. Maybe next time, bring a book. And a beer.

Katniss has a foodgasm. Suzanne Collins spends whole pages describing those meals, and it’s one of my favorite things about the book that really couldn’t be adequately conveyed in the film.

Katniss expresses naïve statements about not understanding her feelings for Peeta or Gale. Oh, the wonderful romantic confusion of young love triangles… whilst trapped in an arena of death, broadcast to an entire nation. Sure, not an easy situation; but still, that girl is as dense as District 12 bread.

I’m not gonna lie, I’m more of a pie girl than a cake girl…Mmmmmm…rhubarb….but one thing that cake has going for it that pie doesn’t is it’s artistic possibilities. Seriously, you can do ANYTHING with cake. As a Food Network afficianado I know this for a fact.

A friend recently sent me a photo of a Clone Trooper cake made by her friend Loriann at Ah, How Sweet bakery and it got me thinking about what other awesomely nerdy cakes might be out there. The following cakes were made by Loriann: Pink Laptop, Steve Jobs Apple, Pac-Man, Starry Night, Clone Trooper, and Jack Skellington. All of the rest I found via Google so if it’s your cake and you want credit for it, hit me up and I’ll be happy to oblige. In an attempt to save some space (there were just too many that I loved!) I clumped some of them together.

So grab your R2D2 eggs and your whisk and get ready to see some kick ass cakes!

Let’s start with my favorite franchise, shall we? That would be Star Trek for any first time visitors. Here are a couple of nice insignia cakes:

Oh no! The Klingons and the Borg!

Phew! Our heroes are here to save the day.

And then, of course, there’s this:

Not creepy at all Data, not creepy at all...

On to Star Wars. We’ve got these familiar faces:

And these:

You want to see some Doctor Who? Ok fine:

If you’re as big a fan as I am of the “Vincent and the Doctor” episode, this one is for you (add a little “For Amy” text on the cake for some extra credit):

Nothing says “I do” like a nice Aliens wedding cake:

This would be the ultimate birthday cake for my friend (and uber Ghostbusters fan) Hayden:

How about we switch gears and look at some fantasy cakes. Here’s one for the Lord of the Rings fans:

And one for the Harry Potter crowd:

And an epic tribute to Dungeons and Dragons:

Are you a gamer? Here you go:

Or if you’re really old school:

Or if you’re really REALLY old school:

If you’re just into math and technology in general:

But what about us comic book fans? It’s ok, I got you covered. Here’s all your favorite heroes in one delectable creation:

And my personal favorite:

I really missed the giant alien squid in the movie version of Watchmen but they definitely nailed this guy:

Whether you’re a Walking Dead fan or just like zombies (that would NOT be me) this wedding cake is for you:

Nightmare Before Christmas is ridiculously awesome and also full of undead dead characters:

If you’re a child of the 80’s like me then you’ll love these. This Bumblebee cake is from the Michael bay movies but I couldn’t find a great Bumblebee cake from the cartoon and this one is pretty awesome so I’m rolling with it (hee hee, get it?):

Heroes in a half shell! Turtle power!

And so ends are cake odyssey. I hope that you’ve enjoyed the trip as much as I have. I’d like to end it on this classy note: